


Who Watches the Watchers

by sartiebodyshots



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Mass Effect 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 09:29:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5580343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some time after Shepard convinces Garrus to not kill Sidonus, Garrus wants to know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Watches the Watchers

“You took a risk,” Garrus says.

“Which one are you talking about?” Shepard asks.  She takes a lot of risks.

“When you stood between me and Sidonus.  I had you in my crosshairs,” Garrus says.  “The last thing I wanted was to find a reason to not shoot him.”

Shepard chews her lip a little, trying not to laugh.  She's hunted down a rogue Spectre, stopped a geth invasion, and is assembling a team to go through the Omega-4 relay, which will likely end in everyone dying.  Even if none of that was true, she couldn't imagine considering standing in front of Garrus’ sniper scope dangerous.

“Are you saying that you were going to shoot me?” Shepard asks.  “Now that would be unexpected.”

“Well, no, but my finger could of slipped!” Garrus protests. 

Shepard snorts.  “If I thought you were _that_ careless or incompetent, I wouldn't have recruited you.  I certainly wouldn't have done it twice.”

Garrus nods a little, but he still doesn't look satisfied.

“Talk to me,” Shepard says, reaching out to gently touch Garrus’s cheek.  “What's really wrong?”

Garrus is silent for a while, and Shepard is content to let him figure out what he wants to say.  Neither of them have been in _that_ many relationships so sometimes it takes them a while. 

“You always look for the best in people.  They don't always deserve it, Shepard.  I'm still not convinced Sidonus did,” Garrus says.

Shepard brushes the back of her hand against Garrus’ cheek before withdrawing it completely.  “I didn't do it for him, Garrus.  I did it for you.”

Garrus’ face twists into a frown.  “What?”

“I wanted there to be some good reason for why he betrayed you.  I can't imagine much worse than being betrayed by part of your team.  The people you picked to have your back,” Shepard says.  “But if there was even a chance that there was a reason why he betrayed you, I wanted to take the chance.”

“They're all dead because of him,” Garrus says.  “He still betrayed them.”

“But he did it to protect his family.  What he did wasn't right or okay, but he didn't want to betray you,” Shepard says.  “He didn’t sell you out for money or favors.”

“I still wanted to shoot him,” Garrus says, voice almost inaudible.  “Even after finding out why he did it.  It still didn't seem just that he's alive and the men he betrayed are dead.”

“It’s not,” Shepard says.  “There’s not a lot in our galaxy that is.  But you would’ve regretted executing him like that.  Eventually.  Even if it was only because there were innocent people around, who didn’t deserve to watch some turian’s brain splattered across the ground.  I didn’t want you to have to live with that if you didn’t have to.”

Garrus makes an unusual noise, fingers twitching as he avoids making eye contact with her. 

“What is it?” Shepard asks, tilting her head.  “Are you mad at me?”

“I never thought about anyone else,” Garrus says quietly.  “I didn’t think about anyone but myself.  It’s like Dr. Saleon all over again.  I get so wrapped up in my personal vendettas that I don’t think about anything else.  Just about getting justice.”

“You’ve got to be careful.  You don’t want to accidentally become the thing that you hate,” Shepard says. 

“Thank you,” Garrus says.  “For stopping me.”

“You’re still the one who made the choice, Garrus.  You’re a good man,” Shepard says, smiling softly at him.

“I don’t know about that,” Garrus says.

“I do,” Shepard assures him. 

“If I ever start to go too far, get out of control-” Garrus starts.

“We have several highly trained assassins onboard, not to mention Grunt was just excitedly telling me about peeling off turian plates.  No worries,” Shepard says, nudging him playfully.

“I was _going_ to say that I was glad that I have you to put me right.  But I guess having a krogan down the hall ready to tear me to peel me to pieces is a comfort, too,” Garrus says, smiling sardonically.  “He’s not going to do that out of the blue, is he?”

“You’re part of his clan, no worries,” Shepard says. 

Garrus sighs.  “That’s good, I suppose.”

“At least it means you don’t get torn apart,” Shepard says.

“Unless I become evil, of course,” Garrus says.

“So it means that you won’t be torn apart,” Shepard says, brushing her fingers against his.

Garrus doesn’t say anything else, just wraps his hand around hers and squeezes tightly.


End file.
